Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Cheap (But Not Crappy) Crafting: Basic Big Pendant Necklace

I know what it is like to be overwhelmed and intimidated to make jewellery. I remember going into a bead store in Port Coquitlam out west and being too intimidated to talk to the staff. Which, if you watch me (Suzie) on stART, you know must be hard to believe.

It was all too much! Where to start? What the hell is a finding? How many components do I really need?

I want to say that jewellery can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. Lately I prefer to make pieces as quickly, easily and cheaply as possible.

Let's Go Shopping!

The weekend after a holiday is a great time to shop. Prices on holiday items are slashed! Halloween is my favourite holiday but imagine what you can do with snowflakes or Easter bunnies or glittery hearts after Valentine's Day?

Michaels carries art-1-cake by Amy Labbe and she is so talented! Her aesthetic is one of the best out there, at least when it comes my personal taste. It's whimsical with a slight touch of demented, LOL. This was originally $9.99 and I got it for $1.99 the weekend after Halloween.

What the heck to do next?

First, you need cord. I use a thick black cord but you can use a shoelace. You will be surprised at well those work for necklaces and you can't get a better deal.

You use pliers to ease down one side, then the other and them smoosh it altogether. You really can't go wrong here. You are just clamping it into place.

Using two pliers you open up a jump ring and then put it through the cord end. Do this on both sides.

Keep one open so you can attach a clasp. I just used a cheap one from a batch I got at the dollar store.

You do need pliers to close the jump rings so that the lobster claw has something to really grab to make it easy to put on and take off. Oops! I used a gold end cord, LOL. But who cares? Nobody is going to notice.

Wear it!

Before I did all the detailing with the findings I did a loose and simple hanged man's noose to attach the pendant but you could literally just hang it on the cord and you are good to go!

Inexpensive, fun, fast and simple! All it took was a few findings, tools and cord and you are ready to wear just about any awesome pendant you have. I did this in one sitting and I am not a fast crafter and wore it in my latest video post for my foodie blog already. Too funny! I was also wearing butcher knives earrings I made and the box was for Christmas!

2 comments:

Wow, I love this tutorial! Thanks for showing how to add the ends to the cord. That is awesome! I would have been totally intimidated to do that and now I'm like, hmm... that looks doable! Thanks, Suzie!

Thanks Jamie! With the photos were a little clearer but I hope it shows the gist of how to put everything together. Oh good, that's exactly what I wanted to do, take away the intimidation factor. It is totally doable! Thanks Jamie!